CHEROKEE, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa judge has dismissed a lawsuit that challenged the Iowa Utilities Board’s authority to give the power of eminent domain to an out-of-state developer of an oil pipeline through Iowa.
The Messenger reports that Judge Carl Petersen said in an order filed Tuesday that the three landowners who brought the lawsuit had to exhaust the administrative remedies required before they may sue a state agency. The judge did not rule on whether Dakota Access is eligible for eminent domain.
The pipeline being developed by Dakota Access LLC would carry crude oil through Iowa on its way from North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois.